We dance and party around the fact that BIP91 FINALLY just locked in. Up to 90 percent of all hash power signaled support for this soft fork, which implies miners intend to trigger Segregated Witness (SegWit) activation. By extension, this should make BIP 148 obsolete and August 1st a rather anti-climatic non-event.

Guess what? The BIP 91 Lock in does NOT necessarily mean that SegWit will be ACTIVATED! SAY WHATTT?

SegWit, defined by BIP 141, locks in if at least 95 percent of miners (based upon hash power) signal support for the upgrade within a two-week difficulty period. For this to happen, miners need to embed a piece of data called “bit 1” in the blocks they mine.

Well that’s a little too technical at this time for me to get into. But if you insist, you tech heads can go over here and enjoy.

Now back to the subject at hand …

Exchanges and Businesses know that when a software upgrade or revision occurs, there is a potential for failure or issues to arise. So in order to keep their businesses running smoothly in the long run, they prefer to WATCH the implementation of the new software. This is recommended for each of you bitcoin consumers as well.

If you want to be conservative, then sit back and watch the bitcoin developers and miners do what they do. If they make a mistake, the network will become unstable. Shucks! If they make a mistake, a problem may not even crop up on Day 1, it may rear its ugly head weeks or months up the road. So I am praying for full software development cycle TESTING and QUALITY ASSURANCE. Sometimes we forget those 2 guys are our wonderful friends.

Here is a short list of all exchanges who plan to HALT BITCOIN TRADING at end of July til after August 1 2017.

Thirteen bitcoin exchange operators in Japan said they will suspend deposits and withdrawals of the virtual currency from midnight July 31 in order to prevent confusion caused by an expected split of the trading system.

The move is aimed at protecting customer assets.

This makes sense to me because there will be consumers who won’t know the difference between the original Bitcoin and the new bitcoin IF a split occurs. In addition,

A virtual currency association to which the 13 operators belong said it is difficult to estimate the degree of confusion but that a serious problem cannot be ruled out.

The operators are planning to indicate by Aug. 4 when trading will resume.

So from Midnight July 31 through August 4th, these 13 Japanese Exchanges will halt all Bitcoin transactions

*** BUY LITECOIN NOW! *** LOL! Sorry… I had a mad woman moment. I do not give out investment advice. Do your own homework. Yes.. I have loaded up with litecoin. I am holding Bitcoin. I embrace Ethereum. And The other 47 cryptocurrencies in my portfolio, I have no emotional attachment. I can abandon them like an old boyfriend who whines too much.

But I digress … Back to the subject at hand…

I shared with my friends and colleagues last night that Coinbase sent out an email to their customers indicating that they, too will halt trading of Bitcoin. Coinbase owns GDAX exchange and no trading for you baby! Not only will Coinbase/GDAX Halt Trading but they have no intention of support any new Bitcoin that appears on the market as the result of a fork. Say What??? Read all about it here!

Chinese Exchanges will follow Japan’s lead as well. Halting BTC trades all makes sense to me.

No exchange wants to be caught up in a cross-fire that CAN occur due to a potential chain split and the repercussions.

It is possible we may even see some exchanges roll back trading data if needed. Additionally, Bitcoin withdrawals and deposits will be halted during this time as well. It is evident the resolution of this Bitcoin scaling debate will create some shockwaves in the end. Even though there is no expected damage, it is better to be safe than sorry. Thus I support this as a valid course of action.

Shucks! Back in April 2017 one of the largest exchanges Bitfinex shut down operations and everyone still lived to see another day.

The bitcoin company Xapo has issued a statement about August 1 telling customers that bitcoin transactions during a fork will be suspended. Xapo says if users need to do transactions during a fork, customers should get their bitcoins off Xapo before August 1. Coins held on the exchange will be available after the network change and “Xapo will keep your bitcoins safe,” explains the firm.

One thing you do NOT want to do is trust anyone with YOUR bitcoins. So get them out of there!

The Gemini exchange is a USA exchanged owned by the Winklevoss Twins, issued its statement in regards to August 1. They stated they will do their

best to support chain withdrawals

However, the exchange details that unlike the Ethereum / Ethereum Classic fork last year they cannot “guarantee” they will be successful as there is a lack of “

Kraken Exchange has not officially given a statement in regards to the fork. However, during a recent podcast, Krakens CEO Jesse Powell details that the trading platform will have to freeze deposit and withdrawal funding.

Everybody with a balance on Kraken would have two coins

in the event of a fork says, Powell. Depending on the risks of replay attacks customers should receive both tokens.

So what does CryptoQueenWiki recommend you do?

You can hear it from me right here. I truly believe there will NOT be a fork. Say Whattt??? Whateverrr…

DO THIS NOW… NOT TOMORROW… DO THIS RIGHT NOW! GET A REAL WALLET WHERE YOU OWN THE PRIVATE KEYS! I’VE BEEN RANTING ABOUT THIS ALL YEAR!

Go HERE. I know… I know … the Ledger Nano S is not due to ship until September 2017. Nonetheless at least get a mobile wallet and transfer ALL of your bitcoins over there. Get EDUCATED. PAY ATTENTION. KEEP IT SIMPLE. BE SAFE!

Maybe it is time for a vacation in the sun untethered from the stresses of the world? This will all blow over … or Will It?

Faith Sloan better known as "Queen Wiki" or "Crypto Queen" is a cryptocurrency enthusiast and trader. She has been a software engineer for 40 years and builds Decentralized Apps (DApps) on the Ethereum blockchain and plays with Tech toys. When she is not teaching, researching and writing about Cryptocurrencies, she's traveling the world and feeding her eating hobby.